Daily Signet

From the Prayer To Be All In

…O Breath of Fire,
We are charged with fire to lie down in Fire.
Not removed, but all in,
not dismissive but embracive
that we might experience the revelation—
of You moving and compelling us,
of the full immersion in the Flowing fire,
of the flames of passion and compassion. Amen.                    

Benjamin H. Martin

On This Day…

Hart Crane born 1899 in Ohio, died 1932: poet
Works: The Bridge, The Buildings, Oh My Land, My Friend
Quotes: “One must be drenched in words, literally soaked in them, to have the right ones form themselves into the proper pattern at the right moment.” “The bottom of the sea is cruel.” (He committed suicide by jumping into the ocean)

Daily Signet

Notes from the Men’s Group, 1996

Saladin: With will and passion, he claimed the greatness that was offered him. He acted in service to his vision, always in accord with his character, his ethos. He was acclaimed in the West for his chivalry and his ethos. He had outstanding self-control, perseverance, organizational skills and luck. He was shrewd and unflappable. 

The Samurai: These warriors had both dignity (connected with the individual self; not in relation to others) and honor through violence (community based; given by society, claimed by the person). Have no fear: if you stay defensive, you will lose.

Tagore: He had a mixture of humility and vanity and did not belong to any caste. He fed on the greatest that was here and responded by bringing forth greatness. Peace is not in the absence of pain and escape from the world. Peace is founded on the strength of the person in the midst of life.

Leadership: True aristocrats speaking with the power of their Being (not the power of birth, position, profession, money); possessed of character; with mastery of their profession; acting in service to the ethos of character and to the highest ideal of the profession; drawn to challenge; not seeking safety and comfort; not giving or taking things personally. You have more in common with your opponent who is a professional than with your supporter who is not.

Ben Leichtling

On This Day…

Eid al Adha: Islamic commemoration of the faith of Abraham and his willing to sacrifice his son

Francesco Petrarch born 1304 in Italy, died 1374: poet and scholar
Works: Secretum, Africa, Trionfi
Quotes: “Five great enemies of peace inhabit with us – avarice, ambition, envy, anger and pride. If these were banished, we should infallibly enjoy perpetual peace.” “To be able to say how much you love is to love but little.” “Rarely do great beauty and great virtue dwell together.”

Daily Signet

So many fathers of sorts—many have been women for it isn’t a gender thing—it is a leavening force of yang—have generated and regenerated vital breath. I am grateful to those fathers and mothers who had something vital to convey, something vital to transmit and who did convey it, who did transmit it. I am grateful to my birth father who blessed me with a sacred transmission and I am grateful to our spiritual fathers and mothers who blessed us with a sacred transmission, and I am grateful to those of the Golden Chain who continue to bless us with a sacred transmission, and as is said in the Hindu Father and Son Ceremony of Transmission, “Your vital breaths in me I take.”  

For it is foundational to who we are that “the generations form golden links of model and draw us into community with the Aristoi of God”. They leaven us. They make us rise. We study the sourdough starter set that is embedded in the rich amalgam of humankind. This active, transformative starter is found in all times and all places through the story and the stories of the challenges and achievements in all human life, in the human search for the Divine and in the stories of sacred and mystical union—all these conveyed in biography, the works, the arts, the revelations of truth and myth, prophetic and sacred works.

In the Mystery of the Eternal Masculine, we celebrate the energy of Yang, and celebrate the vital breaths that sustain the soul, keep alive and awaken the spirit and perpetuate an unbroken chain of pure gold.  Let us hear the Holy Spirit speak to us, live through us, sing a new song through us by way of those who leaven us and call us to rise, to expansion. “My vital breaths in you I would place! And let us reply: “Your vital breaths in me I take.” Amen. 

Benjamin H. Martin

Daily Signet

Consider T’ai Tsung, considered to be the founder along with his father, of the T’ang dynasty, one of China’s greatest ruling houses. Here was a man who instantly faced the dynamic possibilities, even with all of their difficulties, and moved to do what had to be done in the context of his place and his time, in a disintegrating and even dying empire, and, by so doing, gave birth to a great new dynasty—the Tang Dynasty. Under his reign, planning and action were one. His entire life is the story of a genius handling of the basics and the dynamics—building one and using the other to its greatest effect.                                          

William M. Boast

Daily Signet

(A Tribute to Paul Chivington)

These three aspen trees
to the right of me
are in tribute to a man
I once knew— a man of science
AND a man of great Spirit.
We called him, Paul.
He was a modern missionary of sorts
taking us on visits
to holograms and multiverses.
I, on my bench, sit in his shadow
wondering what remembrances
I will leave.
And I can’t help but wonder
if he feels my deep gratitude
for the rich ground
he has left behind.
May I do half as well.
Thank you, Paul, for being
such a magnificent Paul.                                                         

Benjamin H. Martin